HHS department appoints pro-life Valerie Huber to prominent position

The Trump administration has appointed Valerie Huber as the Chief of Staff for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Huber formerly served as head of Ascend and as the President and CEO of the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), a Washington, D.C.-based professional association which – according to their website – “advocates for abstinence education as the optimal strategy for teen sexual health.”

Huber has a stellar background demonstrating a commitment to encouraging healthy sexual behavior in our nation’s youth and advocating for pro-life values based on the inherent sanctity and dignity of each individual. Prior to her work with NAEA she worked at the Ohio Department of Health from 2004 to 2007, designing community abstinence programs to encourage and award teens for practicing healthy sexual lifestyles.

And in an article for the Daily Signal but reprinted by Live Action News, Huber wrote:

Science shows those teens that choose to wait to have sex until marriage increase their chances for a happier marriage, healthier future family, a life of self-discipline and productive citizenship.

According to Focus on the Family, Huber is “a 56-year-old mother of four, and a Christian since age 17,” whose desire to get involved in designing safer sexual health programs began when her oldest child was in middle school and she took a look at some of his coursework his class was using. That prompted her to get involved.

“As public health experts and policymakers, we must normalize sexual delay more than we normalize teen sex, even with contraception,” Huber told PBS in 2016. “We believe youth deserve the best opportunity for a healthy future.”

In an article written for Public Discourse in June 2016, Huber stated:

“HHS has a responsibility to correct misinformation surrounding the use and promised results of the curricula on its list, to implement consistent research protocols, and to ensure that the sexual health of American teenagers is prioritized above politics or ideology. HHS is in a unique position to lead the conversation in a healthier and decidedly more honest direction. I hope they will aggressively seize this opportunity to do so.”

The way that Planned Parenthood views sex education is less than ideal. According to Focus on the Family:

The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States—founded in 1964 by Planned Parenthood’s medical director at the time, and which maintains strong ties to the abortion-selling group—called abstinence education a “failed approach” in an official February 2016 press release and blamed the movement’s backers for “wasting” nearly $2 billion in related federal support over the last three decades. Advocates for Youth, a reproductive and sexual health organization that often joins forces with Planned Parenthood, says on its web site that abstinence-only programs “ignore youth’s basic human right and the fundamental public health principle of accurate, balanced sex education.”

Naturally, Huber’s appointment is welcomed by the pro-life community. In an email statement regarding the appointment, Human Coalition President Brian Fisher said, “Valerie Huber is a trusted friend and is a stalwart champion for sexual risk avoidance. We deeply respect her work and are excited with her appointment to HHS.”